Rebecca Clayton

Lecturer in Law

Education

JD - Harvard - '97

BA - Yale - '94

Rebecca Clayton is an experienced and accomplished corporate attorney, with significant expertise in corporate and financial law, corporate governance, intellectual property, and nonprofit organizations. During her more than 17 years of practice, Clayton has demonstrated the ability to counsel executives/leaders in a broad range of organizations—from large public companies to grassroots nonprofit organizations—in successful strategic planning and execution. She has an abiding commitment to community and education, and regularly gives presentations and participates in panels and workshops on matters such as business law, intellectual property, and nonprofit organizations.

Clayton currently practices in-house at a technology company and serves on the boards of nonprofit organizations. Her previous experience includes overseeing the Penn Law Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic, working in the corporate and financial law group of CIGNA Corporation, and practicing in the corporate and securities group of Pepper Hamilton LLP. During her years of law firm practice, she represented public and private companies in a wide range of matters, including equity and debt financings and information technology transactions. As in-house counsel, she advises and has advised varied internal clients such as senior corporate executives, business development, and marketing teams as well as investor relations, corporate accounting, internal audit, and information technology departments.

Clayton also served as a legal advocate with the Hale & Dorr Legal Services Center (now WilmerHale Legal Services Center) in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts while she was in law school. She has consistently been engaged in community service, including through her work with the Philadelphia Futures mentoring program, the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and as a trustee for Cornerstone Christian Academy, an independent school for children in kindergarten through eighth grades.

Clayton earned her B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.